Chris worked for me as a part of our Kaleidoscope team in Detroit placed onsite with Ford Motor Company.He was responsible for creating animations of future products for internal and external use.Chris brought a real sensitivity to the animations both from a story telling and a visual side. His work elevated the overall feel and emotion of the animations and established a new level of expectation for all future work. He has a keen eye for detail that draws the viewer into the world inhabited by the product being animated, making it easy to appreciate the intrinsic beauty of that object. I appreciate Chris’ honesty and humorous self-effacing nature.

"Chris possesses a powerful and diverse skill set honed through his extensive experience producing for both leading film studios out West and top automotive studios in Michigan. His aesthetic projects demonstrate a beautifully crafted composition of balance and drama. Moreover, Chris has a keen eye for subtle detail such as dust and fingerprinting that breathe realism and life into his CG pieces. During his years creating visualizations for Ford’s internal design studio it was remarked on several occasions that his vehicle interiors were the best CG interiors. Chris thrives in a positive and creative studio environment and would be a great addition to such a team."

Colin Davies, VFX supervisor and owner, SpinVFX Toronto

"Chris is a hard working dedicated artist who is always willing to pitch in and do whatever needs doing. He is friendly, soft spoken and very easy to get along with. "

George Macri, Senior VFX Producer, SpinVFX Toronto

"I highly recommend Chris Winters as a candidate for employment. Chris joined the SPIN team as a senior lighting artist for the period of February 15, 2012 through to September 11, 2012. During his time with Spin he worked on the feature film projects, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -Part 2, Resident Evil Retribution, and the television shows, The Borgias -season 2, and Nikita -seasons 2 and 3. During his time at Spin, Chris' main task was to setup the lighting on a variety of shots and render the appropriate passes for compositing. Chris was able to work in both a PRman and Vray rendering pipeline. He was liked by his peers and was always willing to help his colleagues in any way he could. I feel that Chris' talents and skills will make a positive addition to any company and we will hire him again at the first opportunity."

Chad Ridgeway, CG Compositor, Armstrong White

"Chris is a talented and seasoned CG artist who has a passion for great art, and he has a fantastic eye toward the future of the industry and emerging techniques. His touch helped us on a massive configurator and our cg motion sample car replacement."

John Tissavary, President, Maxsar Digital Studios

"Chris is not only a great guy on a personal level, he's a fantastic artist, and a natural lead / supervisor. His shots seemed to always end up as the template or model for the rest of the sequences, and his dedication served as a great example to those newer to the business, working along side Chris. I would not, for a moment, hesitate to hire Chris again."

Brian Kulig, Lighting Supervisor, ImageMovers Digital

"I have worked with Chris Winters a number of times. He is both an amazing lighter and a kind hearted individual. At ImageMovers on Christmas Carol, we often put Chris on the scenes that we knew were going to be a challenge to light because we were confident that he could find a look and establish the scene and he never let us down. Chris brings a wealth of lighting experience to the table and it shows not only in his artwork, but in what he requests of the tools and guidance he provides. It is always very clear with Chris that his goals are to make the project the best it possibly can and to help make it an enjoyable experience for the entire team. It has always been extremely enjoyable to work with him I hope to on many more projects in the future."

Rudy Grossman, CG Supervisor, ImageMovers Digital

"Chris is a great lead and a great lighter. As a lighter he has a particularly acute sense for understanding contrast and composition. As a lead, Chris takes the time to make sure his lighting set ups are intuitive and that his team has the support they need to bang through shots as quickly as possible without losing aesthetic quality."

Lee Rase, Associate Production Manager, ImageMovers Digital

"Chris is a talented and driven lighter who pays close attention to detail. When managing Chris on A Christmas Carol, I was continually impressed with his dedication and ability to self-manage. He welcomes challenges and pushes himself to the limit. I recommend Chris for a senior lighting position. He delivers excellent work."

Jason Brewer, APM Lighting & Compositing, ImageMovers Digital

"Chris is a great lighter and really helped to define the look of Scrooge on "A Christmas Carol". On "A Christmas Carol", he took on the challenging role of a Lead Lighter and oversaw the lighting of several great looking scenes. He consistently delivered great looking shots throughout Carol and Mars Needs Moms using a very complicated Lighting pipeline."

"I had the pleasure of working with Chris during ImageMovers Digital's production of A Christmas Carol. As a lighter, Chris received and responded to creative feedback with grace and professionalism. He was able to hit the mark quickly and help establish the look of key scenes. As a lead, Chris worked with the DFX Supervisor and myself to help devise an attack plan for complex scenes with incredibly tight deadlines. Chris is an incredibly hard and dedicated worker who truly cares about what he does."

Jason Yanofsky, Lighting Artist and Compositor, ImageMovers Digital

"Chris is an excellent lighting artist with a great eye for the craft. Blessed with that perfect even temperament so necessary to have in the world of production, his coolness under fire regularly resolves potential nightmare situations, and as lead artist this makes him great to work with. On A Christmas Carol his early look development work went a long way to derive the look of many characters and environments. All in all Chris is one exceptional artist and production asset, I would love to work with him again anytime."

"Having worked with Chris at a previous facility, it was a real treat to get the chance to join a key Christmas Carol sequence he was lighting lead on. He has a real knack for quickly defining the visual tone of a sequence, and in the case of a ACC, did so within some very challenging technical boundaries. He patiently produces quality work, and as a lead sees to it that others on the sequence do the same. He's also very modest about his talents, to the point of possessing one of the great self-deprecating senses of humor I've come across! I'd jump at the chance to work with him again."

Anna Dickinson, Senior FX Animator, ImageMovers Digital

"Chris is a talented artist with an excellent eye for lighting. He's also technically sharp, and while we worked together, made substantial contributions to defining and implementing IMD's rather complex lighting pipeline from the ground up. I enjoyed working with him at IMD."

"I am extremely fortunate that Chris was my first lighting mentor. His rare combination of patience, intelligence and ingenuity serve him well, both as a teacher and a professional lighter. Along with skillfully teaching me a great deal about lighting techniques and troubleshooting, he also shared valuable stories and insights about many aspects of the CGI industry. The lessons I learned from Chris are priceless. My level of skill and joy of working in CGI has been greatly enhanced, and for that I owe Chris an immense debt of gratitude.”

"Chris was my lighting lead for feature film "A Christmas Carol". He is a dedicated team lead with excellent lighting and compositing skills. He was able to troubleshoot technical problems very quickly and had a great eye. I highly recommend Chris and hope to work with him in the future.”

Arun Chidambaram, Lighting TD, ImageMovers Digital

"Chris was one of my leads at IMD. His knowledge of the lighting pipeline is excellent and combined with his good aesthetic eye makes him a very valuable addition to the team. I highly recommend Chris and hope to work with him in the future.”

"Chris is a very talented and focused TD who was always calm under pressure and knew how to make the shots look good. He is a true hard worker with a readiness to jump in and solve problems. Chris was always a pleasure to work with, and with his experience, and positive attitude, Chris would be an asset to any lighting team."

C. Jin Im, Lead Lighter, Vanguard Animation

"Chris was a sequence lead for the animated feature Space Chimps. With his rich career as a technical lighting artist he used to be a core person to contact whenever people needed advices on their tasks. Also he's a very friendly person to listen other's trouble patiently with smile. His high level of artistic work always dragged others' motivation to make the best works out of limited resources. It was a sheer pleasure to work with Chris."

Andreas Jablonka, nuke compositor, The Orphanage

"Chris is always helpful and very easy to work with. He accomodated all our special needs. I definitly would work with him anywhere.”

Michael Miller, Shot Finaller, Walt Disney

"I worked with Chris at Disney Animation on my first lighting job. Chris was not only smart and a fantastic worker, he was more than happy to help me with my work whenever I hit a snag, which was quite often. I would highly recommend Chris."

Tom Wright, Lighting Artist, Walt Disney Feature Animation

"Chis is a good friend and an amazing artist with many years of experience. He has taught me a lot about Lighting and about the film business as a whole. Chris was a huge contributor at Disney and very well respected."

"Chris is a strong lighter with a nuanced artistic eye who also has the technical chops to flourish in any high end production. He is always willing to help those around him and sets a good example of how an artist should operate in a team environment. I worked with Chris at Disney and on Space Chimps and would be excited to work with him again."

Wallace Colvard, Sequence Lead, Walt Disney Feature Animation

"Chris is diligent and easy to work with. He's a good listener and meets his deadlines without fail. He has a good eye and is detail oriented. I enjoyed having him on my team and would recommend him for just about any position."

"Chris is one of those people who you know you can count on to get the job done well and on-time. He is thoughtful, knowledgeable, and a team player. I highly recommend working with Chris if you have the opportunity to do so."

Steven Hansen, Lighting Support / Camera Tracking, Digital Domain

"I worked with Chris on The Day After Tomorrow and have subsequently known him for six years. He possesses every skill a great lighter should have. He possesses a great artistic eye and the technical know-how. His work has consistently been top notch. As the years have passed, I've watched as Chris has taken on higher positions with greater responsibilities, in which he always shines. I have a song that I sing half jokingly to Chris called, "Chris Winters, Star Lighter!", and there's a reason for it. Chris *is* a star lighter, and is a valuable asset to any team fortunate enough to have him."

Leslie Baker, Senior Technical Director, Sony Pictures Imageworks

"Chris strikes a charming balance between taking his visual effects work seriously and leading his team with a sincere personal touch. We tackled a daunting VFX task together in 2001 and Chris dedicated himself to get the job done with a professional finish. A true craftsman, worthy of the trade.”

Louis Katz, Lighting and Compositing Artist, Sony Pictures Imageworks

"Chris is one of the true team players in the industry. He's always willing to share his knowledge. He also has a strong eye for lighting and compositing. Chris has excelled in both visual effects and animation. I hope I have the opportunity to work with Chris again.”

Frank Collins, motion graphics/animator, wayne state university

"Chris is an extremely talented artist who I've know since our days at CCS. He has made himself available to local artists for presentations as a 'local boy made good.' I look forward to future visits and hope to arrange more opportunities for him to speak again soon.”